Eggcellent

Practically Speechless

Dear Reader,

You know who you are... and let me say that I am overwhelmed by your generosity. And I gratefully accept it. Thank you so much. There really aren't words to explain how touched I am. This really will make a significant difference to us. In the spirit in which it was given, please know that I will pay it forward.

Thank you so much.

Love,

The Furious Family

Spring Has Sprung

When Nature Calls

Mrs F Reader Opportunity

I know that a lot of you are stuck in a bit of a weight loss/fitness rut. I can relate... you know I can relate.

What you may not know is that one of my readers Staci is a personal trainer. She has an online training program that she completely customizes for each client.

It occurred to me last night why not put two and two together.

Her training program offers:

*Weekday emails (Monday-Friday)

*Personal assessments

*Goal setting (I'll see where you are and help you get where you want to be!)

*Daily support and helpful fitness & nutrition tips through access to the SUPER GIRLZ FITNESS BLOG! There you will be able to chat with other like minded women. You'll find a community of supportive women working hard daily to make a healthy change...for life.

*Check in reminders via email. Yes, I will have you weigh in weekly & measure & take pictures monthly.

*Daily Client/Trainer communication journal via email. I will send you a blank daily communication journal when you sign up. This is where your program is made or broken. Open communication between client/trainer will only help us create the best program for you.

*All programs are sent via email & in Word Document.

*All programs are payable through Pay Pal.



The best part is that I know she's not nuts... and that's she legitimate. I swear.

Seeing as times are tight I know that having a real in the flesh trainer might not be a financial possibility... heck having a gym membership might not be a possibility. Having said that I also believe that having someone tell you what to do and how to do it takes a LOT of the anxiety and stress out of starting up a new program and can make the difference between starting and meaning to start. (I mean how many times have you obsessed over what your new workout program is going to look like only to not ever start doing it?! Or how overwhelmed you feel when you don't even know how to start?) So I asked Staci if she would be willing to give you all a discount on her one month training program.

She said YES! For less than one session with a trainer (heck for half) you can get a whole month's worth of individualized training programs. If you've been stuck in a rut or stuck just meaning to start something up this is for you. She's offering 15% of her monthly program, you must sign up before May 9th to take advantage of this discount (That knocks it down from $45 to $38.25). Go check out her site and see if this might be just the thing you need to get yourself back on track.

If you are interested be sure to sign up using the Mrs F Readers Discount offer at the bottom of THIS PAGE.

If you have any questions about Staci and her training programs please feel free to email her. You can get her contact information HERE.


***** A NOTE:
This is NOT a paid advertisement. I have no investment in this service. Please do not start contacting me with a whole bunch of crap (I mean stuff) you want me to write bogus reviews of. This is a personal blog.

Packaging Details... Gooddog Look Away (unless it came today)

For those of you who care (and really how could you not care inordinately about such stuff... I know it's been hard for you to focus on your work wondering how on Earth I packaged up my giveaway box)...

Instead of filling the box with popcorn I used green tissue paper that had been cut into strips. No, I did not do this for this project... I did happen to have a box full leftover from Easters past when I used this as Easter grass (for some reason I thought regular Easter grass was a chocking hazard for babies... why?... I cannot fathom a reason now). Got some wrinkled tissue paper hanging around (and I know you do since who on Earth can throw that shit out) you could achieve this in no time.

Remember how cutely I was able to package up my Christmas Sugar Cookies (as if you didn't sear their image into your brain)? Well... I was not able to find patterned wax paper in an appropriate (aka not red & white striped candy cane) pattern so I just took some pinking shears to plain white.
It is not as cute but will have to do. It's pretty important to keep the icing off the back of the other cookies when they're stacked or they can glue together during the temperature changes of shipping... completely ruining all the effort you put into the icing.

I packaged up the rice krispie eggs like this...

(please people spare yourselves and do NOT make these) I ate all the leftovers yesterday... could not stop shoveling them into my face. I never thought I liked white chocolate until I started covering things I liked in it... then I realized it's addictive powers.

You already saw the jelly bean carrot...

And the playdough eggs...


But, please, those are both so freaking cute they bear repeating.



And just in case you wondered how *crazy* I am...

I stamped the box to cover up past markings... and... colored them in.

Yeah... that's how I roll.

Crimpin' My Style

I got a call to pick Kid up from school.


Just a sore throat and possibly a fever.


It's not like Kid to not want to be at school... plus when they call... you don't really have any room to question it.


So I got her.


I'm not sure what is up with her but she is NOT sick.

The Long Awaited In Law Update

This Week The Plan

I feel like I've been running around like a chicken with it's head cut off (and sadly I do know exactly what that looks like... thanks Mom).

We've been debating (over and over and OVER again) about our New York/PA trip for the week after Easter. It has been a stressful and difficult decision. When your money is so tight it is really hard to make big ticket decisions. Is it worth it? What if something happens? I keep having Suze Orman's voice in my head yelling "Denied!". And know that, truthfully, we can't afford it. However it is one of those things we can't afford to miss either. I think it is very important to see my grandmother, who has been back in and out of the hospital) and I don't want to miss out on wedding dress shopping with my friend. Because we live in different states I just can't attend all the wedding functions and felt that this was the one worth making it out for. But, nonetheless, the financial stress has been needling me all week. It's just hard once you get in a super low budget zone to stomach going over it.

On other fronts I've been pretty lazy getting things out for Easter. I brought up the bin yesterday to occupy the girls while I got my gift box stuff together. And.... they pretty much destroyed the house. There are bits of Easter grass and whatnot ALL over. I should probably be cleaning...

Okay onto this week!

Menu:

Sunday - Sauteed Chicken breasts, pan fried potates & asparagus

Monday - Tortellini w/ peas & bacon

Tuesday - Cornflake Crusted Fish Sticks, Mixed Vegetables, Rice

Wednesday - Black Bean & Turkey Tacos w/ avocado

Thursday - Shrimp Scampi w/ linguine & sauteed broccoli

Friday - Pizza & Salad

Saturday - Quesadillas



Diet & Exercise:
I'm just focusing on trying to workout everyday. With Mr F's work schedule that usually means I have to miss 2 nights a week.. but I feel pretty good about 5 days a week. Still waiting to get my pilates reformer set back up! I'm going back (yet again) to food journaling. I have a goal and I'm staying focused on that.


Chores & Errands:

Sunday - grocery shopping

Monday - baking/ gift box making

Tuesday - Clean kitchen, Call about dog grooming, get haircut

Wednesday - Clean living room, vacuum

Thursday - Clean girls room (UGH), Target returns!!

Friday - Laundry

Saturday - pack



Need A Lift?
Okay this is the part where you all tell me if there is something going on in your life that you need some extra positive thoughts and energy to go to. Please tell me what your desired outcome is.

Take A Minute

And Send Mr F some positive energy if you would.
He's just done (hands down) the best magazine cover of his life. It is awesome. And the publishing company is suddenly nervous and trying to shoot it down (cause of it's superior awesomeness).
He really needs this to go through!!!

Easter Gift Box... The Details (Gooddog you've been warned)

Okie Dokie I've been super busy today.

I'm really excited about this idea...
When I saw these snap apart egg cartons I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them.


What's inside?...

Hand dyed playdough of course.
(Total cost about $1)

Ever since I worked at a chocolate shop in highschool I've wanted to recreate their jelly bean carrot. The bag is a plastic piping bag (I just happen to have hundreds of them lying around... you can get them at Michael's). The hardest part was finding orange Jelly Belly's.

(Total cost about $1.75 for 1/4 pound of Jelly Belly's)

Here is my Easter take on the Christmas White Chocolate Dipped Oreos...

I'm sending a half dozen plain rice krispie treat eggs and a half dozen dipped in White Chocolate and sprinkles.
(Total cost for 2 dozen about $6 but you'll have leftover cereal, white chips (I used half a bag) and sprinkles.)

Of course the box wouldn't be complete without these little guys...

(Total cost about $4 for 3 dozen cookies)

I also found these (rabbit shaped sidewalk chalk) at Target on sale and had to have them!

(Total cost $1.50)

You can get the playdough and sugar cookie recipes HERE. The rice krispie treats are literally just topped with melted white chocolate chips and sprinkles.

I Don't Know What You Were Doing At 1:30 AM...

But I was crouched down on our front porch.

Moments earlier, while Mr F was walking Canine, I saw him signal me with his flashlight.

I did what anyone would do and started waving back like I was flagging a plane in for landing.

Then...

I ran to the kitchen (where the door window looks directly over the garbage can... in which Mr F would soon be depositing Canine's "deposit") and made a crazy monster face. Since it was pitch black out and the lights in the kitchen were on that meant it was an awesome spectacle for our neighbors. And I stood there frozen for minutes. No Mr F. Then I started to feel self conscious. That's when my genius struck.

I flipped off all the interior lights and then propelled myself like a ninja (depite my pink bathrobe) to the front porch. When Mr F approached the front porch from the garbage he'd do it from the side. If I was quick and stayed low the porch railing and the shrubs would obscure me from vision until he was AT the steps. At which point there I'd be pretty much eye to eye with him.

Meanwhile...

Mr F was having a fantasy of his own.

When he went to drop off Canine's shit sack I was already gone from the kitchen window. And the lights were off. His flashlight bounced off the double layer of door windows and shone back at him. For a brief moment he thought (and I am not making this up... this is verbatim reporting) "Oh Rachel went and found a flashlight to flash back at me... because she loves me".

Yes my husband's fantasy is straight out of the mind of an 8 year old boy on his first campout with his buddy in the backyard.

Then he realized he'd been duped by his own flashlight. Crestfallen he proceeded to the porch...

Completely unaware that I was about to display my love in a very different way.

"Boo!"